Forced sexual intercourse and associated health-risk behaviors among female college students in the United States

This study analyzed data from the 1995 National College Health Risk Behavio r Survey (NCHRBS) to assess the prevalence of lifetime rape among female co llege students and to examine the association between rape and health-risk behaviors. The NCHRBS used a mail questionnaire to assess health-risk behav iors among a nationally representative sample of undergraduate students. Tw enty percent of female students reported ever having been forced to have se xual intercourse, most often during adolescence. When analyses controlled f or demographic characteristics, female students who had ever been raped wer e significantly more likely than those who had not to report a wide range o f health-risk behaviors. These results highlight a need to improve rape pre vention and treatment programs for female adolescents.